Retro 2025 – GODKILLER

This instalment of our 2025 retrospective series focuses on Monaco legends GODKILLER and the 7'' release of "The End Of The World" – the last purely Black Metal song ever written by mainman Duke Satanaël. Check out earlier retrospectives on "Black Noise" by BONG-RA, "I I" by BLOOD ABSCISSION, "Amidst the Flames, May Our Organs Resound" by MÜTTERLEIN, "Akallabêth" by ANFAUGLIR, and "Abominable Astral Summoning" by I.C.E. on our website!

"The End Of The World" is a long-lost GODKILLER Medieval Black Metal track which was previously released on the CD-only compilation "In Decay We Trust, Vol. 1", by Avantgarde Music/Wounded Love. Now available in standalone 7'' format, accompanied by fitting art and design, "The End Of The World" captures GODKILLER at their most intense and immersive. The single is classic Black Metal at its most powerful: combining raw aggression, epic melodies and a deep, melancholic yearning for the past.

Check out the track via Bandcamp and order the 7'' vinyl – including merch designed by Anastasiia Istomina – via our EU, US and Bandcamp shops:

"The End Of The World" is a potent entry in the GODKILLER catalogue which, over the years, moved beyond traditional Black Metal into more avant-garde, electronic and ambient realms.

The essential GODKILLER releases are currently available on physical formats via our EU shop and can also be streamed through our curated GODKILLER Spotify playlist — click here!

In 2025 GODKILLER mastermind Duke Satanaël’s artistic output extended beyond "The End Of The World". In parallel, Duke, under the moniker Herr B., unveiled a new full-length album from his sinister post-punk/electronic project A PRAYER FOR THE WORST, titled "Life Is A Lonely Path". Both releases share a common emotional core: rooted in isolation, hostility, the refusal of comfort and the embrace of darkness.

Duke reflects upon "The End of the World" and "Life Is A Lonely Path" and shares his most listened albums of 2025:

"I am delighted and honoured that this track has been re-released. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Debemur Morti Productions for making it happen. This is the final piece of music I composed in the Medieval Black Metal style, which marked GODKILLER's debut. That was in 1996–97. You can already hear the change in the vocals, which are closer to those on the album "The End of the World". The music, on the other hand, is characteristic of the EP "The Rebirth of the Middle Ages", with its brass, choirs, flutes, harsh guitars and ultra-fast tempos. The lyrics also foreshadow the upcoming album with their nihilistic theme hinting at a dark future. Twenty-eight years after the release of the single 'The End of the World', and in the same year that DMP re-released it, I released the second A PRAYER FOR THE WORST album, "Life Is A Lonely Path". Its themes are ultimately not very different from those announced in the 1997 single. The music is certainly different, but the spirit is the same. Perhaps just a little more refined. The bleak future predicted in 1997 has not brightened – quite the contrary, in fact. Age has changed nothing."

1. CINDYTALK "Camouflage Heart" (Reissue)
2. MENACE RUINE "The Color of the Grave is Green"
3. MÜTTERLEIN "Admist the Flames, May Our Organs Resound"
4. SEVENDEATHS "Desert of Errors"
5. THROBBING GRISTLE "Live at the Volksbühne, Berlin, New Year's Eve, 2005"
6. TIM HECKER "Shards"
7. TODAY IS THE DAY "Never Give In"

Listen to "Life Is A Lonely Path" here and purchase the album via our EU shop:

"Life Is A Lonely Path" received strong media acclaim:

"Life Is A Lonely Path" is […] like something that grabs you by the throat and strangles you in your sleep." (Regen Mag)

"Once again this is a brilliant collection of temporary electronic neo gothic music consisting of slow and mindful movements and melodies setting a distinctive sign against the panic and hectic of modern everyday life…" (Chain DLK)